Standards for Disaster
Resilience for Buildings and
Infrastructure Systems
Advisory Committee on Earthquake
Hazards Reduction
November 8, 2011
Stephen A. Cauffman
Deputy Chief, Materials and Structural Systems
Division
Outline
• Background
• Resilience Concept
• Approach
• Engagement with Stakeholders
• Next Steps
“…a primary focus on response and recovery is an impractical and inefficient strategy for dealing with
[natural disasters]. Instead, communities must break the cycle of destruction and recovery by
enhancing their disaster resilience.”
National Science & Technology Council, Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction – A Report of the
Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction, June 2005.
Background Natural and technological disasters cause an estimated $57B in average annual costs
(and growing), with catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina and future “Kobe” earthquakes causing mega-losses exceeding $100B.
Existing extreme load-related prescriptive requirements of building codes, standards, and practices stifle design and construction innovation and increase construction costs by an estimated $50B-$100B per year.
The risk in large disaster-prone regions of the Nation is substantially greater now than ever before due
to the combined effects of development and population growth.
45 to 81 Presidential Disaster Declarations are made every year
Performance of the Built Environment
• The built environment fails repeatedly during hazard
events
• Performance of the built environment is dependent the
codes and standards in place at the time of construction,
enforcement, maintenance, and operation
• The built environment is highly interconnected; current
codes and standards are generally independent and do
not account for this interconnectedness
Resilience Concepts
Resilience is the capability of a system to
– maintain acceptable levels of functionality during and after
disruptive events
– to recover full functionality within a specified period of time
Adapted from McDaniels, 2008 and Bruneau, 2003
Functionality
Time
Time to Full Recovery
Residual
Functionality
Modifications before disruptive events
that improve system performance
Repairs after disruptive event
to restore system functionality
Lost
Functionality
Defining the Built Environment
• Buildings (engineered and non-engineered)
– All systems necessary for intended function
– Architectural, structural, life safety, mechanical, electrical,
plumbing, security, communication and IT systems
• Infrastructure or lifelines
– Transportation - roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, rail
– Utility plants and distribution systems - electric power, water and
wastewater, fuels, communication
Community Resilience
• Identify multiple hazard and performance levels
• Consider the function of buildings and infrastructure
systems within the context of response and recovery.
– What is the required function of the building or infrastructure
system?
– When is the building or infrastructure system required to be
restored to functionality to support response and recovery?
Framework for Resilience Standards
Present
System of “stovepiped”
design standards for
resistance to hazards or
reliability of service
Future
Holistic approach to
resilience standards that
incorporate resistance to
and recovery from
hazard events
Common Terminology/Definitions
• Hazard levels
– Routine (serviceability)
– Expected (used in design and to evaluate resilience)
– Extreme (used in emergency response planning)
• Performance levels
– Account for function of building or infrastructure
system within the context of the community
– Consider time to return to functionality
Performance Goals/Categories
• Develop performance goals for buildings and
infrastructure systems
– System-wide, interdependent approach
– Guidelines for rural and urban communities
• Develop performance categories for buildings
and infrastructure systems
– Performance level tied to role of building or
infrastructure system in response and/or recovery
following a hazard event
– Generalized for new and existing systems
Identify Gaps in Standards, Codes,
and Current Practice
• Hazards and associated load criteria
• Hazards without load criteria (e.g., fire)
• Performance criteria for construction materials
and types
• Interdependencies among buildings and
infrastructure systems
• Examples from best practices (e.g., for business
continuity)
Metrics and Performance Level
Criteria
• New construction
• Existing buildings and infrastructure systems
incorporating aging effects
• Upgrading of existing buildings and infrastructure
systems
• Across segmented infrastructure sectors (e.g., electric
power generation, transmission, distribution)
• Associated costs to restore full capacity and/or
functionality
• Applied across hazard levels and performance
categories
Technical Basis for Resilience
Design
• Improved analysis procedures for structural
systems to enable use of structural performance
levels for resilience
• Performance criteria for the building envelope
and non-structural building systems
Metrics for Community Resilience
• Account for interdependencies among buildings
and infrastructure systems
• Incorporate performance
What is Needed to Achieve Resilient
Communities?
Status Quo
• Prescriptive codes and
standards for life safety
• Poor buildings and
infrastructure resilience
performance during hazard
events
• Emergency response planning
but little community resilience
planning
• Reliance upon federal disaster
funding for recovery
Moving Forward
• Risk consistent, performance
based codes and standards
for resilience
• Comprehensive approach to
design guidance for built
environment
• Proactive planning by
communities to achieve
resilience
• Reduced emergency response
and recovery costs
Stakeholder Engagement
• Invitation-only roundtable held September 26.
– Engineering community, SDOs, insurance industry,
government
– Hosted by ANSI-HSSP; organized by NIST;
supported by DHS
• Group help to identify and refine the needs
presented here.
• Strong general sense that resilience is the
direction that the industry needs to move
• Recognition that this is a long-term process
Stakeholder Engagement (2)
• Preparing for open workshop on November 10
• Hosted by ANSI-HSSP; organized by NIST
• Speakers from engineering profession,
infrastructure sectors
• Review/refine technical needs/gaps identified
during roundtable
Next Steps
• Document technical needs/gaps in a roadmap
• Develop plan for engaging technical and
stakeholder communities in development of
resilience metrics
– Building systems
– Infrastructure systems
Questions?
